Molly Malone's Irish Pub, Ji De Chi, Tong Shui Cafe

B and I wanted to try many places at Circular Road and we ended up at this irish pub called Molly Malone's (56 Circular Road) most famous for their beer battered fish and chips. It attracts a mixture of expats and locals and at that time we went the happy hour was still on going and the pub was packed.

Molly Malone's has two levels - the second floor was packed and really quite noisy. The first floor has many sections - we sat in this room and it was much quieter. There is another area with the bar and a smoking section further in, segregated by closed doors. The crowd also spills over to the tables outside, most of them expats armed with a mug of beer.

B had a mug of beer (I cant remember the exact breed) and it was quite good =)

Beer battered fish and chips, $17

I think the portion justifies the price - you get five palm sized fish and plenty of thick cut fries. The fish is really very tender and freshly fried! Pity though it doesn't come wrapped in newspapers, British style. We don't see any vinegar too but I suppose you can always request. But we thought everything here was really good, and not too oily as well.

Funny thing is, the extra tartare sauce we requested looked very different from the tartare sauce here- in terms of texture and colour...strange indeed. It tasted more like mayo...hmmmm..

Calgary Stampede Burger $16

Oh this burger was really quite good. The patty was one of the beefiest I've tasted - we asked for medium well. The cheese though, seems more to be lathered on the top (yummy,toasted, sesame coated) bread and not on the meat itself, and that top bread (which we ate separately) tasted like very good cheese toast! I really like this burger!

Note that last order for food is 1030pm, and there is no service charge here, tips are to the patron's discretion.

After that B and I took a long long stroll down to Liang Seah Street for desserts (actually we wanted to go Tom's Palette but it was closed by the time we rolled there). I've tried Ah Chew's numerous times so we decided to go to Ji De Chi (Liang Seah Street).

Ji De Chi has a really huge menu and has many many types of Durian dessert whereas Ah Chew doesn't have durian in their desserts. In Ji De Chi, there is durian rice rolls, durian baked rolls, durian puree in their steamed milk, on its own....even the shop itself has a durian fragrance (or pungence, whichever side of the field you are on).

Steamed milk Egg white

I wanted to try the JiDeChi's version of this dessert and I felt the texture was rougher than Ah Chew's steamed milk with egg. The milk taste is also rather strong here.. I prefer the smoother Ah Chew's one.

Durian Puree with sago $6

We were debating between this durian puree or the steamed milk egg white with the addition of the durian puree (actually we wanted both). But luckily we ordered the steamed milk egg white on its own because this particular durian puree tasted funny and we sent it back. There was too much of foul stuff to stomach so there was no way we could eat it.

Sweet Heart

So we wanted to replace the durian dessert with a mango dessert and we were persuaded by the waitress to try this instead of the usual mango pomelo sago (which comes with a scoop of icecream). What is different is that this dessert has milk in it and is quite sweet. There is mango puree and real mango pieces and plenty of sago and pomelo sacs - it feels like a mango milkshake with plenty of extra ingredients. I don't like sour mangoes so I thought this dessert was quite nice.

Sesame paste and walnut paste

The walnut paste is very very good! I prefer the sesame paste at Ah Chew's though I think it is more fragrant. The pastes here are very smooth.

Baked Durian Puff $8.50

This took 20 minutes to bake and after that nasty Durian Puree we wanted to cancel our order but we didn't (cos I thought baked durian shouldnt taste that bad). I think this particular batch of durian paste isn't too fresh.. but this puff is rather interesting it feels like a dessert sushi roll..check out whats inside...

The durian paste was not that sweet or fresh but still edible - from left to right, there is actually a crumbly butter cake, sesame seeds, then the durian paste! all wrapped up with an extremely fluffy pastry roll. We had fun dissecting the innards... and it was quite tasty if only the durian paste was fresher.

Then we trotted to the nearby Tong Shui Cafe (Liang Seah Street) cos I was craving for the Thick Durian Toast that Chong and I had a few nights back for supper.

Thick Durian Toast

I pointed to the exact same picture as I did with Chong on the bestseller menu but I realise what Chong and I had a few nights ago was the Durian French Toast (which is in their regular menu)- No wonder the bread then was slightly salty and crispy. If you just order the thick durian toast (like this particular one) the bread is just.....well.....alot of white plain fluffy bread. You must go for the FRENCH TOAST! (It's about one buck more)- That is really very very good.

B says the durian tastes like a durian-kaya concoction while Chong says that its like a caramel - kaya concoction. It is really quite sweet and runny and oh so very yummy for a supper.

Remember, its the Thick Durian French Toast!